Sanae Konya
by elenaela
Summary: What will happen to you when you die? The death of a very normal girl hurls her in many life-threatening adventures in the depths of Rukongai. (and the Shinigami Academy in later chapters). M for violence and language
1. Death

**Death.**

Sanae Konya yawned as her friend stepped out of the car and wished her goodnight. It was four in the morning and she had agreed to give her friend a lift…not something she usually did, but she had been unwell, and she had had to cut on the alcohol this week, thus being able to drive at night. Sanae was a responsible person, though people usually thought the opposite, since she could be really carefree and relaxed in most situations. She sighed and steered the car on the driveway, heading for home and sleep. Usually she hated driving, because it required loads of concentration and patience with other crazy drivers, but at night it was a whole different story. The road was deserted, and everything was silent and peaceful. Or at least, that's what she thought. As she drove around a bend in the road, a car coming in the opposite sense invaded her lane, going way too fast to stop in time.

'Oh Hell.'

Sanae blinked. She was sitting on her butt in the middle of the street, the two wrecked cars some ten meters to her right.

'Tsk. There goes mom's car. Oh, she's gonna kill me.'

Konya got up and moved towards the car, when she realized that something was off: the driver's car door was closed. What? How in the world had she gotten out? And without getting wounded? Then she looked down at herself and realized that she was NOT ok… she was a f***ing ghost! Or at least, that was the only explanation she could think of, as incredible as it seemed. Anyway, she was completely unscathed, except for a weird chain-thing trailing from her chest…

While she was pondering, she didn't notice a shadow approaching, till something hit her on the shoulder and flung her in the air, making her land on the other side of the wrecked cars. Now THAT hurt! By the time Sanae got to her feet again, the …being… that hit her was eating what looked suspiciously like the driver of the car that had crashed into hers.

'Oh dear. What is that? Ok sweetheart, think! What to do? Scream? Run? Ok, ok calm down… Call for help? Ok where's my cellphone? *groan* In the car obviously…', she panicked, while watching the …thing… for any sign that it might remember she was there, which she was really hoping it wouldn't. The thing looked like he had come straight out of a mightmare to say the least!

"Hey Ken-chan, look! The Hollowey is there!"

Sanae spun around and her eyes widened. A huge man was towering beside her and grinning maniacally at the thing, while a little girl with pink (pink!?) hair was hanging on his back, clutching to his shoulder.

"Stand back."

Konya winced at the tone and quickly retreated, scared of the man, though she soon realized that he had been addressing the child, and hadn't even spared her a glance. The little girl jumped off and bounced up to Sanae, smiling.

"Hi blondie! Now I'm gonna do a soul burial with my zanpakutou, so you can go to Soul Society, and then you won't become a big bad meanie Hollow and hurt the other humans and cause all sort of problems that we shinigami need to clean up after!", she began babbling at top speed, while Sanae just stared and wondered if she had drunk way too much. Maybe it would have been better to call a taxi. Damn her avarice. Next time she was going to get roaring drunk.

At this point, the poor girl was so dumbstruck that she didn't even wince when the kid pulled out a sword and hit her with the hilt hard enough to make her faint.

**New Beginning.**

When Sanae opened her eyes again, she found she was curled on the ground in a sunny field. There were hundreds of people milling around, most of which where assembled in the semblance of a line, waiting for something. Ah, well, she was past disbelief by this time, so she did the only sensible think she could think of.

"Excuse me, sir? Where are we?", she asked an old man, while rubbing the sore spot on the forehead.

The old man looked up at her, and frowned. "Didn't the shinigami tell you?"

"…what's a shinigami?"

The man sighed impatiently, but began explaining, "After death, humans become souls, and it is the duty of the shinigami to make sure that the souls arrive to Soul Society, without being eaten by Hollows first."

"…Hollows? Are those some sort of monster-things? I just saw one of those I think…"

"Yes, exactly. Souls become Hollows when they stay too much time in the human world without having a proper soul burial, or if they are eaten by other Hollows. Shinigamis are the ones who destroy Hollows, thus saving souls like us from a terrible faith."

"Ah." Well, at least she understood what was going on, though it was so surreal that it made her want to laugh. Especially the part of that Hollow eating the other driver, though it really hadn't been a pretty sight. But well, the guy had KILLED her! What the hell, how fast was the guy going? Crazy idiot.

"So what do we do now?", Sanae asked, trying distract herself from her own angry thoughts.

"The Shinigami will give us an address, and that is where we are supposed to live. That's what the line is for."

"Oh. Well, at least it's moving quickly. We won't have to wait much.", she smiled.

By the time Sanae got to the front of the line, she had learned that the Rukongai, the place where the souls where supposed to live, was divided in 320 districts (80 to the North, 80 to the West, etc.), and that the Seireitei, the home of the shinigami, was out of bounds for normal souls. She had also discovered that souls didn't eat, and that to become a shinigami you had to attend the Shinigami Academy, though entering was almost impossible, due to the fact that you had to have a huge spiritual energy (or something like that…). There were many other rumors circulating, like one that said that the Commander General of the Shinigami was more than a thousand years old, but Sanae didn't really trust them much, seeing as people tend to invent or misunderstand information…especially after something as traumatic as dying. And anyway, she really was past caring.

When she got to the desk in front of the line, a bored looking shinigami (or at least she thought he was, seeing as he was wearing the same black kimono that her two saviors had on when they rescued her mere hours ago) gave her a slip of paper and beckoned her to quickly get out of the way.

"75 South Rukongai", the old man read over her shoulder, "what a shame, we're far apart. I have district number 28 West. Well then, I guess this is farewell." Sanae thanked him, but he just smiled kindly and moved in the direction a road sign was indicating districts 20-30 West were.

It took the girl a bit longer to find the right direction for her district, and when she did she was starting to be really weary. After all, in the last couple of hours, not only had she stayed out till 4 in the morning, she had also been killed, witnessed a nightmarish monster eating a human being, been hit in the head by a 7 year old with pink hair (that looked for all the world like her natural color…but who in the world had natural pink hair?), and a variety of other small things that where enough to tire anyone enough to sleep for a week.

Ah, well. Crashing in the middle of an unknown place was the least of her worries now. So, she just found a spot under a tree a little off the road and, hidden behind a clump of bushes, she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.


	2. District 73

** District 73 South.**

When she woke up, Sanae was thoroughly confused. Where was she? She thought, before yesterday's events came crashing back, making her sob in despair and fear.

She didn't know for how long she cried, and when she stopped she was exhausted, though she felt better for having sobbed her heart out. She got up and stretched, groaning at the aches in all her body for having slept in such an uncomfortable position, and at the pain on her forehead and her shoulder, where the Hollow-monster has struck her.

She looked around and noticed that it was probably midday, and the place was deserted. Sighing, she started walking in the right direction, wanting to be in her district and settle down as soon as she could.

She liked walking, because it let her free to think, and it agreed with her lazy disposition, not requiring much energy. Her mind drifted, and she got out of her reverie only when she was standing in front of a big road sign saying "District 72 South Rukongai".

"Hurray! Almost there!", Sanae smiled and looked around. The smile slowly froze in place…something wasn't right. There were no houses or places where you'd expect people to live in, but, weirdest of all, no one was around. An eerie silence hanged over the place, and a shudder ran down her spine.

'Shit. Now think, Konya, think! You're out in the open, in the middle of nowhere, and there aren't even birds singing and frogs croaking, or whatever it is that animals do in nature! Get somewhere safe!', she kicked her mind in motion, scurrying to the nearest patch of trees, and ducking in the underbrush. Just in time! She heard raucous laughing in the distance, quickly getting closer, and a few minutes later a group of rowdy men dressed in rags passed right by her hiding place.

'Thank God I act intelligent sometimes… now those are some people I wouldn't trust,' she thought, eyeing the violent looking group of men suspiciously. They seemed to be heading to what looked to like a bunch of destroyed huts in the distance, and Sanae had the nagging feeling that those were the best looking houses she would see in a while. Sighing (which seemed like something she was going to do quite often in the near future), she pondered what to do, and decided that she might as well go to this District 75 like she was meant to. She didn't have anything to do anyway, and she had no intention of running into that group of men again. This time though, she kept an eye on her surroundings while she was walking and stayed close to the trees, which would offer her a measure of protection if someone nasty-looking walked by.

Everything was calm as she walked on, and Sanae was starting to think that she was acting paranoid, when she heard the sound of screaming. She had just passed the sign that indicated she was in District 73, and was walking on the edge of a forest. Cursing, she wondered what to do, but when the yells got even more violent, she just couldn't stand by, and ran to see if she could someway help whoever it was that was so terrified or hurt.

She soon came to the edge of a clearing, and the sight that opened to her eyes was the most horrific she had ever seen. In the middle of the clearing stood a shack, that seemed to be the home of the family that was being massacred by two laughing men. The lawn was strewn with bodies, their blood and gore littering the ground. Sanae counted two dead men, a dead woman and a child, before she was dry heaving in the bushes.

When she regained control of her body, the two murderers where beating and kicking one of the already dead men, all the while laughing their head off. Dumbstruck, she looked around once more, trying to see if there was anyone still alive, when she noticed that the little boy, covered in blood, was staring right at her. It was the look on his face, the bleak look of someone who has already accepted death, that made Sanae lose what little control she had left. All the things that had happened to her in the last day came crashing down and she howled in anger before throwing herself at the two men.

She caught the first one by surprise, and kneed him in the groin, so that he was howling on the ground in pain. The other man didn't waste time though, and punched her in the gut, sending her sprawling on the ground. As she got up to her feet she noticed him picking up a blood soaked knife from the ground.

'Shit. He probably dropped the knife while they were kicking that man! Hadn't noticed… though it should have been obvious, considering how these poor people have been butchered', she thought, looking around, while never leaving the sneering man out of her sight.

Sanae wasn't new to combat, being a karate black belt. She had started taking karate lessons when she was seven, and had continued because her parents insisted that she do at least a sport. Yeah, she liked going to karate, but she'd rather spend her time sleeping on the couch or hanging out with friends. Thanking her parents fervently for their stubbornness, she rapidly considered the situation. There were two men, one of whom was still panting on the ground, the other holding a knife and looking deranged, and they both looked like veterans in street fights, while this was her first. Also, considering that they were two big brawny men, and she was only a normal 19 year old, the odds didn't look too good.

'Too late to regret your actions Sanae darling! Better knock out the one with the knife before the other one stands up again and it's two on one', she considered, before launching herself at the armed man. She had never been the direct attack type, usually waiting for her opponent to make the first move, catching him unprepared if he made a mistake, but, somehow, it worked.

The man wasn't expecting the young girl to fling herself at him, and the stab from his knife only grazed her side. Konya smiled to herself, grabbed the man's right hand with her left, holding it away from her, and began kneeing and punching the man with her remaining hand and elbow in every place she could get to. Awaking from his amazement, the man punched her hard with his left, in the exact same spot he had hit before. Hissing in pain and anger, Sanae did the first thing that came to mind: she headbutted him in the face, and heard his nose crack under the force of the impact. The flaring pain made the man loosen his grip on the knife, which was promptly wrestled from him by the almost dizzy girl. Hell, she was gonna have an even larger bruise on her forehead tomorrow, she thought.

Konya stepped back from the man, who was kneeling on the ground clutching his bloody face, when a shout made her whirl around. She ducked just in time to avoid the other man's attack, who swung a metal pipe in the air above her head. Unfortunately for him, his momentum made him lose his balance, and Sanae sprang from her crouch, stabbing him in the gut with the knife she was holding.

Silence descended on the clearing, and after a long tense moment, the stabbed man crumbled to the ground, blood slowly oozing out of the gash in his stomach. After another seemingly endless moment, the other man stood up and ran, still clutching at his face, while hurriedly looking back at the girl, clearly hoping she wasn't going to follow him and finish the job. But Konya just sank to her knees and stared at the dying man in front of her with a horrified expression.

"What have I done?", she croaked in a broken voice, before her world went black.

**The Child.**

Sanae opened her eyes and almost screamed in surprise. The little boy she had just saved was staring at her, inches from her face. She groaned and sat up, while shaking her head, trying to clear her thoughts. The kid scuttled back and stared at her with wary eyes.

"Thanks kid. You saved my life with that shout," Sanae said, adverting her eyes from the dead man sprawled beside her, "what's your name?"

The child just stared.

"Is… was this you family, dear?"

No answer. Not that she had really expected one. She'd read somewhere that refusal to talk was a quite common shock symptom. The things this boy had seen were enough to make anyone never talk again. Or maybe it was just the fact that she had just become a murderer that prevented him from talking to her, thought Sanae bitterly.

A faint sound from the woods had the boy staring at the trees in fear, and he scurried over to Sanae, pulling her hand and grabbing the knife from the dead man's stomach. Confused, the girl let herself be tugged in the forest, and she soon found herself hiding in the undergrowth next to the child, who was still quivering in fear. Only then did she notice that there was a rapidly spreading patch of red on the boy's left arm. She immediately took her cardigan off to wrap the cut, though she changed idea when she saw how the kid was dressed. He was barefoot, and had a pair of dirty shorts and a t-shirt that was so worn-out that it was a miracle it still stayed together. So, instead of destroying her poor cardigan completely, she only cut the sleeves off to make bandages, and made the child wear the rest in place of his ruined t-shirt. The boy looked at her in disbelief when he realized she was giving him her clothes, but accepted her attentions without squirming.

While she was medicating him, Sanae studied her little savior. It was obvious from his appearance and from the scene that she had just witnessed that life wasn't easy at all in the Rukongai. He had piercing green eyes, and his hair was probably fair underneath the soot. Sanae thought that she was going to give the child a thorough clean as soon as they found some running water. She could see scars and bruises on his body, though none looked like a serious injury like the cut on his arm. At least he didn't look like he was starving, she mused, before remembering that someone had told her that souls didn't eat, and thus didn't starve to death. Weird. SHE felt like she was starving! But then, it must be psychological or something, she had always been a big eater, she continued brooding.

When finally she snapped out of her reverie, it was twilight, and the little boy was sleeping peacefully at her side. Surprised, Sanae smiled tenderly and shifted a little in a more comfortable position.

'Ah well. Life could be much worse than this. At least I didn't die twice in two days,' was her last thought before falling asleep, the grasshoppers chirping and the owls hooting peacefully in the background.


End file.
